Christmas Mayhem

We spent Christmas Eve at grandma's house. It is a great family tradition. We had dinner and then opened presents from grandma and grandpa with all the aunts, uncles and cousins around. All the girls got fancy aprons, and each kid family was given a grandfather clock so that we won't fight over mom and dad's when they die. And what Christmas would be complete without new pajama pants for the grandkids made with love by Grandma? Not ours!

After all the family festivities we headed home to continue the traditions. We put out cookies and egg nog for Santa. All the kids were dressed in their new pajama pants from grandma, and then they each opened one present before getting scooted off to bed. As we tucked Ethan in bed he asked, " Now, what are the rules for tomorrow again?" So we reminded him not to wake mom and dad before 7am, stay in bed tonight, etc.

At 7:03 Jeff and I were awakened by Ethan (who had already woken up Erin) proudly pronouncing that it was after 7:00. We sent them downstairs to investigate what Santa had brought while we took a few more minutes to wake up and get dressed. After having them come up every 30 seconds or so to show us something, we quickly got dressed and came downstairs too. There was plenty to see and do. Ethan got a Lego Indiana Jones II Wii game from Santa, Erin got a pink MP3 player, and K got a new purple and pink dress up skirt. The day was filled with cinnamon roll eating, Lego assembly, toys, a visit from Grandma, Grandpa and Suzy, and relaxing together.

My favorite moment of the day was when Miss K discovered the new roll of scotch tape in her stocking from Santa. K LOVES tape. She is always stealing mine. In fact it took me over three rolls of tape to wrap presents this year. Not because we had lots to wrap, but because she kept taking it! So very appropriate that Santa brought her some for her very own. For most of the afternoon (and since) she loves to play "tape store" with Erin in her play kitchen. Who knew??

Deck the Halls

The halls are literally decked at our house.

Christmas countdown chains, homemade snowflakes and reindeer cover the walls. The other wall contains our fireplace- complete with stockings hung by the paper fireplace with care... We have to have some way for Santa to make his grand entrance. Our tree is up, decorated, and glowing. I love this time of year! And since all the shopping, decorating, delivering, and wrapping is complete I still have a few days to relax and enjoy it all.

Last night for Family Home Evening we had a lesson on the true meaning of Christmas and retold the story of Jesus' birth. At the end of the lesson my sil, Kelly, challenged all the kids to think of one thing that they could do as a present for our Savior. This morning Ethan got dressed and cleaned his messy, messy room without being asked. It is spotless! He was so excited to show me what he had done. Erin got up this morning and wanted to make all the kids breakfast for me! Even though Katelyn didn't cooperate, Erin still did a great job. I love her so much! Today Katelyn is going to help me make her bed, and make a card for her daddy. I'm glad that my kids took Kelly's challenge to heart and did something for Jesus.

I hope that you all have a great holiday filled with love, family and friends!

Dancing Snowflakes

Erin has been wanting to take a dance class for ages. This summer she took a few weeks of classes through a community center and loved it. So we decided to put her in a dance class this year. She is taking it through BYU, and is in the children's creative dance program. Twice a semester the parents get to go and watch, so this was the Christmas "performance" that they did for the parents.



In Motion




Dancing in her snowflake costume for the parent performance.



Erin and her best friend Hannah Scott.

Choir Concert

At the beginning of the school year Ethan wanted to join the choir at his elementary school. They have rehearsals twice a week at 7:30am, so I kept asking him if he really wanted to do it. That was a big commitment. He was adamant that he would be in choir, no matter what I thought. Well, he loves it and has done great! He has never missed a practice to sleeping in either. I am so proud of his dedication and am grateful for his interest in music. It is a talent that will serve him well over his life. This week they had their first performance.



Ethan singing with the choir. He is on the front row to the right. Only one of 8 boys in the choir!



Ethan looks all handsome in his dress clothes.


These are all the kids in our ward that are in the school choir. Ethan can handle himself with all the ladies- look at those muscles!

'Tis the Season

The snow has come. I resisted until 10 am, then Miss K would have it no more. We had to go out and enjoy the winter wonderland that was right outside our front door. So we gathered all the proper gear and even gathered up some neighbor friends, Londyn & Sophie Berrett, and headed out. Katelyn made a snow angel, slid down all the slides on the playground, and carefully dusted the snow off every horizontal surface she could find. She loved it! (I really need to get me some boots- quickly.)

After school the kids came home from school in boots, coats, gloves, hats, and pants wet from the knee down. It must be a long walk home in the snow. But they really wanted to go outside and play. So after homework was done I geared up for round two of winter wonderland. (Which included a coat change for K so her wrists wouldn't be exposed.) And since it has been snowing all day, there were more horizontal surfaces to dust off, friends to play with, and snow angels to be made. (And I still really need some boots!)

And of course all that snow has to end with some hot chocolate.

A quick back track-- Thanksgiving was great. We had a quiet dinner at the in-laws house. I made the stuffing, yams, banana crush punch and two pumpkin pies. We had the only grand kids there, very unusual, but it was quiet. A nice time to reflect on all the blessings that I have in my life. I feel very thankful.

The day after I went Black Friday shopping at 5am with some great ladies from my ward. They convinced me to go with them last year and got me hooked. Although I don't think I would go if I had to go alone, so a big thanks to all of them for making the insanity of it all very fun and entertaining! I even managed to find a few deals!

Katelyn says...

After the song "Santa Baby" had just finished playing on the radio in the car, Katelyn tells me, "Mom, Baby Santas don't hurry down the chimney!!" I got a good laugh from that one.

Katelyn calls daytime "Happy Day" and when it is dark "Dark Day". For example when she woke up this morning she came running downstairs yelling, "Mom, it's happy day!" How can you have a bad morning when it's a happy day to your three year old?
And this summer when I was trying to get the kids to bed at 9:00pm, but it was still light outside, she said, "But mom, it's not dark day, it's still happy day!" Sorry kiddo, but it is still bedtime.

That sweet girl can really make me smile!